


Her Voice

by withinmelove



Category: The Little Mermaid - All Media Types
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen, Little Mermaid Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2018-07-01
Packaged: 2019-05-31 22:30:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15129149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/withinmelove/pseuds/withinmelove
Summary: The original little mermaid written from the prompt: Rewrite a classic fairy tale by telling it backwards. The end is now the beginning.





	Her Voice

**Author's Note:**

> My beta zilia was great help! Please check her out. She writes great Avengers fics!

Goetia stands over the sleeping Prince and his new wife, their naked bodies curled into each other. There is no doubt of the marriage consummation which had been presented hours earlier by the small bloodstain on the cloud-white sheet. Their marriage ceremony took place on this enormous boat crammed to bursting with royalty. This man who said he loved Goetia only to be so easily tricked into another’s arms by his parents. She was but a commoner, worse, a foreigner no-one could place. Without a royal name or, in fact, a voice to speak for her, she was powerless to stop her love from being stolen away.

The knife is a solid weight in her hand. She wants the hot relief of his blood upon her legs and feet. How many years, weeks, _hours_ she’s spent in crippling agony. Sharp stabbing pains in her knees, aching hips, and feet that burn when not wrapped in numbing poultices. A childhood affliction that has crippled her all her days. But how she had danced! For her Prince, her love, and the life she envisioned for not only herself as princess, but her family, who are never far from her mind. Five unmarried sisters, a widowed father, and a frail grandmother. This life of royalty hadn’t been just for her, although this unexpected love had.

“Sister, sister! Littlest sister!” A chorus of her sisters’ voices beckons in soft whispers from the door of the bedchamber. She lays the knife lightly between the sleeping lovers before she creeps from the room longing for heat on her riddled bones. Her five sisters are cloaked and hooded from sight. 

“You stole my price for all that I gave him,” she signs to them woodenly, despair flattening her. There will be no second attempt on his life. Never within the palace walls will Goetia get this opportunity. 

“We have saved you.” Her eldest sister replies as she begins leading them away. Truly they should not be here, not just in this corridor, but the wedding in general. Countless extravagant ships are anchored not far away, each cradling and gently rocking the multitude of nobility for the nuptials. Only they, the Prince’s favored commoner family, are left here unnoticed by anyone, even the crew. Too lowly to attract any second thought. 

“There is a chance for a second life, for all of us,” adds in second sister, her warm hand finding Goetia’s. A comfort.

“A witch has promised a potion.” Third sister, who has always been recklessly curious, holds her other hand as they silently, slowly make their way across the ship.

“She can take away your pain!” naive, gullible fourth sister chimes in, hushed by them all. They are unimportant guests, but dare not raise suspicion by being caught lurking close to the Prince’s bedchamber at this hour. 

“The witch speaks of a transformation,” Fifth sister finally speaks in her turn, and it is her voice that causes Goetia to wonder. There are only minutes to think over this mysterious woman before the six stand before her. A shock to see their father and wizened grandmother seated on either side of her. The witch must be Grandmother’s age, but is well-rounded and smooth-skinned, with a low voice when she speaks.

“For the price of your sisters’ beautiful manes of hair, your legs, and your souls I can transform you into creatures far more noble than humans can ever hope to be.” She pauses for a moment, holding their rapt attention. “Mermaids,” the witch purrs, at ease with the cost she calculates. 

“You speak a lie of healing my pain, of witchcraft in transformation, and jeopardization our souls. What of Heaven?” Fifth sister asks as Goetia leans heavily onto her sisters for support. She is glad for her sister’s voice, the one who has always been her mouthpiece to the world. Pain is crawling a burning path up and down her legs. The witch shrugs as if unconcerned. 

“I offer hope of happiness. There is none left for you in this life. An existence without pain, no demand of needless suffering,” the witch answers. Fifth sister does not speak and it is then that Goetia gazes at her hooded sisters. In one fell motion, they push back the cloth to reveal shaven heads. What this witch offers, they have already sacrificed. What are two more asked of her? 

Goetia nods.

The witch smiles gently as she stands. Father hands her a goblet and Grandmother, with her trembling hands, the potion. It has all been in place just waiting for her. The witch pours the potion into the goblet, speaking soft words. Their power radiates, and for a single instant, Goetia is without pain. She hungers desperately for what the witch holds. 

“Without souls you become seafoam at death. You will have long lives to contemplate that,” the witch advises one last time before she offers the first sip to Goetia. Without hesitation, she swallows a mouthful and passes the goblet to fifth sister. The gesture is repeated among them all from youngest to eldest.

“Thank you.” The words slip from Goetia’s mouth. She clutches her throat in surprise, though the witch only hums, eyes soft.

“Into the water, your new lives await,” she prods. They waste no time stripping down to nakedness, a bone deep thirst for the water slicing through them. Clothes won’t be necessary.

\--

It has been two hundred years since she slipped beneath the waves never to surface again. None above remember her name and she has stopped calling herself by her human name. Instead, she is only Little Mermaid to all that dwell in the oceans. Little Mermaid surrounds herself with human trinkets, finding no urge to peer out from her home. 

She belongs here.

**Author's Note:**

> Hurts like Hell by Fleurie was a big help with writing this fic.


End file.
